Gluten-Free Essentials Supreme Chocolate Frosting Mix (DISCONTINUED)

I had another excuse for baking last weekend, it was my cousin's fourteenth birthday party and of course since he loves my baking, he asked me to make something for him. Typically I don't bring something that is gluten and dairy free to parties unless I know for sure that it will be positively delicious, so I decided to make brownies for him and since I would be at the party and unable to eat the brownies, cupcakes with chocolate frosting for me. Spoken like a true addict! I set to work on his brownies, creating the fudgiest moistest (is that a word?) chocolaty goodness I knew he would love. While those were cooking I made my cupcakes!

I used Pamela's chocolate brownie mix, adjusting the recipe for a lower fat and dairy free cake version (see package for instructions on this). With both the brownies and cupcakes in the oven, my kitchen smelled like the chocolate factory that is in my town. It was the most heavenly smell, walking home from school with the wind blowing and the chocolate drifting over me like a breath of fresh air. Sometimes I blame this for my chocolate addiction- second hand wafting or something.

Back in my kitchen I opened the package of Gluten-Free Essentials Chocolate Frosting. A pleasantly light cocoa flavor greeted my nose. It was like hot chocolate mix, delicate and powdery. I mixed it with melted Earth Balance stick margarine and water. This was the hard part, it was a little difficult to get all the lumps out, even with the margarine being warm, so i would suggest using warm water as well. Just not hot so you don't shock the frosting. Apparently some foods can be shocked and I would hate for anyone to kill their frosting before eating it! I would also suggest to use as little water as possible as my frosting became a little runny at times.

However, I set the frosting aside while I waited for the cupcakes to cool and it did harden up a little to make it easier to spread. I barely had the frosting on one of them when I was attacked by two Peanuts begging for a taste. We had to finish decorating them first! Patience! But I too was anxious to try the frosting, I hadn't let myself have even one tiny bite.

We sprinkled the cupcakes with bright little gems and each sat down at the table and dove in.

Nice frosting! The chocolate frosting was rich enough to compete with commercial packaged frosting but light enough not to make you feel utterly satisfied. This was a frosting to be reckoned with. This was a frosting that could go on a gluten-free and dairy-free cake and no one would know the difference. I was seriously regretting not making more cupcakes and bringing them to the party and then my selfish side popped out and shouted, more for me!

I did end up leaving some out on the table with a note: Please eat me! (and comment on the frosting) And everyone agreed, this was a delicious addition to the little cupcakes. And most certainly a welcome addition to my pantry.

Notes: use regular stick butter if you don't need it to be dairy free; this frosting mix makes plenty of frosting, it covered 15 cupcakes and I still had some leftover! Which made a perfect topping for my animal crackers!

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